Applying for Czech health insurance

Prior to receiving the Czech visa, you have to have health insurance in the amount of at least 30,000 EUR covering the entire Schengen area.  My hubby got employee-based health insurance from his company, and we were assuming that I, his wife, would be covered by his insurance.  But, the assumption was totally wrong.  Here in Czech, even if the husband is covered by an employment-based insurance, his wife would not be.  And especially being a foreigner here, you have to apply for special health insurance for foreigners as indicated by the embassy.

Jana (again! Thank you Jana!) helped me with finding the right insurance, and even came along with me to the insurance company for me to apply, as no one in the Brno branch could speak English when I called them :( 

The application process was very simple.  You just fill out the application with your passport number and all that.  The surprising thing was that you have to pay the amount for the duration you sign up for all in advance and in cash.  In my case, since my hubby's visa is somehow valid only until Nov of this year, I decided to sign up for the shortest duration, which is 6 months.  The insurance is much cheaper compared to the US (of course!), but still paying for 6 months of insurance all at once was rather surprising to me.  Anyway, it will take a month to process my application, and I should have my health insurance by July 2!

I was wondering how health insurance works for Czech citizens. If you are a Czech person, I heard you can go through certain administrative procedures and can get health insurance covered by the state.  Meaning, there is no one in Czech Republic who doesn't have health insurance. Same in Japan. This is so much better than the US!